Submitted by Melissa Rosales on the 2019 winter session program in Barbados sponsored by the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and the Department of Hospitality Business Management…
Exploring Harrison’s Cave in Barbados was a very fun experience. I was able to take a tram through the cave which is named after Thomas Harrison, who owned a lot of land in Barbados in the 1700s. The challenging cave network was not conquered until the 1970s, when a Danish engineer and cave adventurer Ole Sorensen, along with 2 Barbadians (Tony Mason and Allison Thornhill) rediscovered and mapped Harrison’s cave. After 1974, the government of Barbados started developing the cave as a national attraction, so they excavated shafts and tunnels that would be able to accommodate trams full of tourists. Harrison’s Cave was not open for the public until 1981. The cave is massive, and the temperature of the cave is around 74 degrees Fahrenheit. The cave is considered active because it carries water and the stalagmites are constantly (though slowly) growing. This experience was very fun and informative, as I was able to compare the sizes of stalagmites and stalactites and see what the small ones had turn into after a few thousand years.